Our Tax Dollars Hard at Work

Gold Member

Over the weekend in DC (On Sunday), someone sideswiped the front of my car while it was parked. I did not notice the damage until I was home on Monday. I called my insurance company and they are happy to cover it as long as I file a police report with DC. No problem right? Wrong.

I call DC 311. I give them my information and once we get to the call back number, I am told that they probably will not be able to call me back as my home, work and cell numbers all have MD exchanges and it would incur long distance costs for them to call me back. "Wait a few hours and call us back if we don't call you."

So, I get home (5 hours later) and call back (attempt number 2). The gentleman told me that I needed to give him my home number so that he could call me back COLLECT. Yes, you heard me, DC wanted to call me collect to take a police report for a crime that happened in their jurisdiction. Needless to say, I went apeshit.

"Do you know how expensive it would be for us to call everyone out of state for a complaint?" he said.

"Most people who work in DC don't live there. And its all taxpayer money ANYWAY," I retort.

"No, it's not," he said.

At which point I let him know that this was not an argument for he and I but rather for me and my Congressional representatives. I gave him the number and told them to call me collect. They never did.

The next day (attempt number 3), I finally found a co-worker with a DC exchange and was able to get the report taken--a full 3 days after I noticed the damage. They had to call her phone and use her minutes to take the report.